Home price index is outdated, inaccurate: broker

“The Case-Shiller Index tracks 20 major metro areas,” Sykes told MPA during a telephone interview. “When the national media report on home prices, they use Case Shiller frankly because it’s simple, it’s easy.”

Philly doesn’t even make the cut

But the 20-city assessment – let alone Case-Shiller’s abbreviated 10-city composite index – isn’t reflective of market trends beyond the chosen parameters. Sykes went further in her critique, suggesting the snapshots could be anachronistic: “It was established in 1987 and kind of never revisited after that.”

And don’t get her started on its glaring omissions: “It doesn’t even include the Philadelphia metro area, which is the seventh largest in the country,” she said with palpable disbelief. Indeed, the index – now dubbed the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price NSA Index – measures the value of residential real estate in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington, D.C.

Where’s the love for the City of Brotherly Love? Also known as the City of Neighborhoods, Philadelphia is not even in the Case-Shiller mix despite its sobriquet suggestive of varied residential enclaves, as Sykes said.

Luxury segment omitted from index altogether

Sykes divides her time among the Florida cities of Miami and Palm Beach, New York City, the New Jersey coast and the string of seaside communities that is a favorite spot for affluent New York City residents known as The Hamptons. The Case-Shiller Index does not reflect the markets in which she specializes, she said.